CNN Needs To Lose Its Debate Stopwatch
With frustratingly tiny and rigidly enforced response time, outsize attention to fringe candidates and divisive questions — some of which could have been framed by the Republican National Committee — the first Detroit debate was a lost opportunity to inform the voting public. The debate format is an embarrassment. Here’s how to make it better.
Trump used Twitter on Wednesday to attack CNN’s Don Lemon performance in Wednesday’s Democratic debate. After insulting Lemon’s intelligence, the president said the CNN anchor had insinuated that he was a racist, “when in fact I am ‘the least racist person in the world.’ ” Trump was apparently quoting himself.
CNN’s coverage of the 10 candidates falls by more than 40% over the first debate of the primary cycle in late June.
At the second Democratic presidential debate, which will unfold over two nights in Detroit on Tuesday and Wednesday, viewers will note some differences compared to the first debates. CNN pledges not to ask questions that require a show of hands by the politicians or that confine all the contenders to a one-word “yes” or “no” answer.
Exclusives
CNN is inviting Democratic presidential candidates to debate issues surrounding climate change in New York on Sept. 4. Meanwhile, in a separate initiative, rival MSNBC is inviting candidates from both parties to come to Washington on Sept. 19-20 to tackle climate change.
The California Supreme Court handed CNN a partial victory in its dispute with fired producer Stanley Wilson, who was terminated over plagiarism concerns. The court’s opinion offers the possibility looking ahead that employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuits will face more scrutiny at the outset.
“How complicated and baroque can we make the process of dividing a pool of candidates into two separate lots?” asks media critic Eric Wemple of CNN’s The Draw. Those who tuned in Thursday night could see for themselves as the network assembled a pool of 12 people to draw Democratic presidential candidate debater positions and dates, along with eight additional pundits to analyze it all.
The second round of Democratic debates will take place July 30-31 in Detroit with both nights featuring at least two top-tier candidates each. Candidates’ debate night podium position will be based on public polling.
CNN Rides The IP Train Into Hudson Yards
The global news giant has built the first major broadcast facility to be completely based on the SMPTE 2110 IP networking standard. “The idea behind going IP was to get everything across CNN’s facilities connected,” says Bob Hesskamp, EVP of broadcast engineering for Turner. “The other reason we did this was we wanted to build a facility that wasn’t out of date on Day One, that was software-configurable, expandable and easier to make changes to.”
Sharing Strategies For Launching OTT Services
Executives from leading local and national news players in the OTT space discuss their various options for packaging and presenting content on the platform. Also crucial is figuring out how best to differentiate one’s OTT service from the many competing options, overcoming a lack of viewing metrics and personalizing content for viewers.
President Donald Trump has just arrived in the United Kingdom for a multi-day diplomatic visit to America’s longest and strongest ally, and what is his first message upon arrival? Blasting CNN and making a strong suggestion of boycotting owner AT&T because of the cable network’s coverage.
CNN staffers are concerned about an impending reorganization or round of involuntary cost-cutting after more than 100 of their colleagues raised their hands to take a voluntary buyout that was described as a “separation program.” “Everybody is bracing for a reorganization,” a senior producer said. “There are all kinds of rumors about impending layoffs.”
While cable TV news networks have seen stable or rising overall viewership in recent months, advertisers are seeing declines in a key TV news demo. In the first quarter of this year, viewers 25-54 were down between 14% and 17% for the three major news channels: Fox News Channel lost 15% in primetime to 421,000 Nielsen-measured viewers, while MSNBC was down 18% to 333,000; and CNN was off 10% to 308,000.
CNN jettisoned celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos on Monday after reporting that he is alleged to be the unnamed co-conspirator in the Southern District of New York’s criminal complaint against another celebrity lawyer, Michael Avenatti.
Jeff Zucker, the leader of cable-news outlet CNN, is about to add sports to his portfolio, giving him expanded oversight of more of the most valuable content in today’s media landscape — live programming. Zucker is expected to head AT&T’s Turner Sports, according to three people familiar with the matter, broadening his influence at the telecom giant as it moves quickly to re-organize WarnerMedia.
